Observations on the pollination of sunflowers

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Abstract
For sunflowers of the ‘Peredovic’ variety an average of about one honey bee per sunflower head will provide adequate pollination, as measured by the number of seeds produced per head. This density may be achieved if about 20 hives per ha of crop are present within 3 km of a crop. Bumble bees play no effective part in sunflower pollination. Sunflowers are not fully dependent on honey bees for pollination, as a low yield of seeds, with a germination of 99%, was produced in a cage which excluded bees. Crops with a low bee coverage also yielded good quality seed, but yield was lower than when bee coverage was high. The number of plump seeds per head is considered to provide a reasonably accurate measure of the degree of pollination.

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